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Who Loves Ya, Joe Bruno?

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Joe Bruno also had a good week at the end of February, when he decided to stop listening to Governor Spitzer.Photo: AP


What a great week to be Joe Bruno, majority leader of the State Senate and Albany’s top Republican. First was a birthday — his 78th, on Sunday — and then came the “Thank You, Joe Bruno” campaign. Some evidently moneyed well-wishers, reports the Daily News, are praising the senator via newspaper ads and car stickers. And, last but not least, the same fans have disseminated a memo to state Republicans with instructions on how to thank Bruno properly and what to thank him for. (“Tens of thousands of new jobs for our children” is one example, because apparently the state GOP favors child labor.) With the FBI investigating his consulting business, his very tight relationships with campaign donors, and allegations of massively unethical quid pro quos, this has got to be the best week Bruno’s had since last December. So who’s the secret Santa? Not Bruno or anyone on his staff, the senator swears. “We’re trying to figure it out ourselves,” notes Jay Jochnowicz, the state editor at Albany’s Times Union, which printed one of the ads and is now tracking down the entity that placed it. “It’s pretty mysterious.” We’ll assume it’s the Democrats: After all, they’ve got to be thanking someone that the face of the Republican party in New York is Joe Bruno.

Bruno Has Some Secret Admirers [NYDN]

Who Loves Ya, Joe Bruno?